


Cor-Ten Steel

by ShiroRikiya



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Vampire, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:41:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24492925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShiroRikiya/pseuds/ShiroRikiya
Summary: He is still alone, still a prisoner and there is no salvation.
Relationships: Akashi Seijuurou/Kuroko Tetsuya
Comments: 13
Kudos: 81





	Cor-Ten Steel

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to thank Seitsuna for listening to me bitch while I wrote this story. Whether it was at 2am or at 4pm or at 10pm you were there listening to me whine and bitch about how I dont know where this story was going. So yeah thanks for that dude! 
> 
> Also thanks for the reactions I needed that lmao xD

Out of all the jumbled and disorganized memories that he remembers on that day, three things stands out to his mind like a piece of broken sword stuck between his ribs, sharp and unforgiving.

Firstly, he remembers the blood. 

He remembers it covering the walls and pooling on the floors, almost suffocating Tetsuya with its rich irresistible smell. The blood is newly spilt, warm and inviting the starving Tetsuya to take a taste. It calls to him, fills his mouth with saliva and makes his throat ache with the thirst as his heart sinks to the floor as he comes to the realization that all of this are happening because of him. That if it weren’t for him, if he hadn’t been there, Seijuurou’s mother would’ve been still alive. She lies on the floor before Tetsuya, her brutalized body a proof of how she had sacrificed herself to protect him. 

Secondly, he remembers the cold.

He remembers unforgiving winter, the heavy snow and the bitter coldness as he runs. The snow makes it hard for him to run but he keeps pushing on, his lungs burning like hot lead while his skin freezes over. He runs, he runs and he runs. He sees nothing before him but a vast land of snow and he doesn’t know here he’s going but they had told him to run so he does. He runs even as the tears start to fall and blurs his vision. He runs still, the cold burning his lungs. 

And lastly, he remembers Seijuurou. 

He remembers Seijuurou bursting into his room, his face serious and closed off just like every time he feels scared but pretends that he’s not. He remembers Seijuuoru’s hand trembling as he took Tetsuya’s to his own and tells him to follow him. He remembers Seijuurou’s warm hand as it tightens its hold on his hand when they see the blood and Seijuurou’s mother in the hallway. He remembers as Seijuurou’s father steps forward and covers the two of them and Seijuurou takes him aside and cups Tetsuya’s face in his hands. He remembers the heartbreak and desperation in Seijuurou’s eyes as he tells him to run and don’t look back and that to not be afraid because Seijuurou will catch up to him. He remembers Seijuurou kissing his forehead softly just like how he would do every time Tetsuya has a nightmare. He remembers Seijuurou turning away from him and stepping beside his father, blocking the path and protecting Tetsuya. He remembers Seijuurou’s hair burning like embers as Seijuurou pushes him behind his back, still protecting him. He remembers Seijuurou screaming his name as he’s yanked away from Seijuurou’s back. He remembers Seijuurou’s angry shouts as a cruel laugh rings out throughout the falling snow. He remembers and explosion of bright flames, engulfing his body as he screams in pain and Seijuurou cries out his name in horror. He remembers meeting Seijuurou’s terrified eyes through the flames as he burns. 

And then

And then

He remembers nothing. 

He wakes up to a white ceiling. He tries to sit up but finds himself with no strength to do so. He looks around and sees nothing but blank white walls and a white door. It puts him on edge. 

Despite the feeling of danger boiling in his gut, he falls asleep. 

The next time he wakes up, he is greeted with black eyes. It is familiar, frighteningly familiar and he blots up and away as far as he can as he remembers a cruel, sadistic grin and the smell of blood heavy in the air. 

This man was the one who had killed Seijuurou’s parents. 

He scrambles as far away as he can but the man follows until Tetsuya’s back hits the headboard of the bed and he could no longer move further away. He strikes then, his heart beating like a hummingbird’s wings as he aims for the man’s eyes with his claw, hoping to at least take out and eye but the man catches his hand with ease, his struggle insignificant in his eyes. 

“Injured children should behave. You should go back to sleep instead, little fox. The nurse worked hard to bandage your burned arms and legs. We wouldn’t want their efforts to go to waste now, do we?”

Tetsuya growls and says nothing. 

The man sighs and steps back. Neither of them says anything and neither of them moves. And then the man’s eyes glows a bright purple and before Tetsuya could look away, he has already fallen back to sleep. 

The next time he wakes up, he is in a different room. 

The room is vastly different from the empty white room. The walls are a soft blue, the floor covered with a thick red carpet that felt soft to the feet. The bed he woke up in was big and soft and was the color of deep midnight blue. Aside from the bed there was a night stand, a lamp, a big wooden wardrobe and a table, all tasteful and looked just like the furniture that Tetsuya had in his old home. The door to the room was a heavy looking wooden door carved with intricate designs. The curtains were a rich deep red and felt soft to the touch and when he had looked outside; he saw nothing but a sea of trees. 

He tried opening the door but found it locked. He tried forcing it open but it wouldn’t budge, not even an inch. After that, Tetsuya looks himself over, remembers bright burning flames engulfing his body in excruciating pain. He looks over his arms and legs and sees burn marks decorating his body here and there, like random tattoos that he had seen in a book once. He goes to the mirror by the wardrobe and looks over his self. There is a huge burn mark on the side of his left jaw that continues on down to his neck and chest. 

Tetsuya feels that he should’ve been horrified, should’ve been sad by the burns but instead he finds them beautiful, and finds them pleasing to look at. 

He stops looking later on and searches the room for anything to help him get out, maybe a secret door or an attic or anything. 

There was no such thing. 

He stares at the large window and contemplates breaking it. He looks outside again and observes that the room he was currently in was located somewhere high up. He thinks of possible ways around this problem but comes up with nothing but jumping down. He knows, Tetsuya knows in his young mind that he will die if he jumps from that high up, knows that even if he’s a pureblood, there was no way that he was surviving the fall. He may only be eight years old but he’s not stupid and is intimately familiar with reality. But it was either that or stay in the room where he was and wait for that man to come back. 

So he makes up his mind to jump. 

He doesn’t get far. He tries to punch the glass and it doesn’t break. It doesn’t even crack. He tries the lamp next but the lamp breaks instead. The glass doesn’t even have a scratch on it. It wasn’t any ordinary glass at all. 

Tetsuya sits on the corner of the room, curled in a tight ball, defeated and tired as he closes his eyes and tries not to think of the fate of Seijuurou and Seijuurou’s father. 

The heavy carved doors open later, five maids stepping in with their heads respectfully lowered.

Tetsuya is backed at the corner, scared and on high alert. He knows that he can’t fight back. He knows that he is weaker than them. If they so wish to attack him at this instance he knows that he will not be able to put up a fight at all. 

They do nothing of the sort. One of the maids, the one with the short blonde hair steps up to pick up the broken lamp and the other three maids steps slowly towards him while the last one stands at the door. 

The three maids then ask him if he would like to change to new clothes, if he would like to take a bath or would like to have something to eat. 

He had wanted to say no to everything, to refuse everything that they offered but the mention of blood awakened the burning thirst at the back of his throat and on the corner of his eyes he sees his self reflected on the mirror, his eyes bright red. He was starving. 

“B-Blood. I want blood,” Tetsuya says, his voice barely above a whisper and the three maids bows respectfully as they step back and exits the room. 

In the stillness followed by their retreat, Tetsuya hears the click of a lock turning. 

The maids come back after a short while with a pitcher of fresh blood. They pour it to a glass and hands it to Tetsuya. Tetsuya accepts it and he smells the fresh blood as he feels another sharp pain of hunger in his stomach. He finishes the glass in one go and asks for another and another and another and another until one of the maids had to bring in another pitcher of blood. 

He drinks and drinks and drinks and closes his eyes against the tears as more memories of that night comes back to him. He drowns his sorrow with blood and drinks till he feels like he’s going to burst and doesn’t pay attention to the tears that’s staining his cheeks. If he pretends hard enough that it’s not there then it won’t be there. The maids doesn’t say anything either and leaves quietly after he finishes the fourth pitcher and crawls to bed. 

They don’t bother him for the rest of the day. 

“Young master, please.”

Tetsuya stands his ground and keeps his distance, his eyes glaring at the maids distrustfully. 

It has been a week since he has been confined in the room. Tetsuya was starting to think that maybe the man had forgotten his existence and that’s perfectly fine for Tetsuya. There is nothing more that would please him if he was forgotten so then he can slowly plot his escape and find an opening somehow, But then the maids had showed up with clothes and towels in their arms and had told Tetsuya that he was to meet the Master in his study in two house time. 

He did not like it at all. 

“Young master, please. We don’t have much time. We still have to give you a bath and get you prepared before you meet the Master,” pleaded one of the maids. 

“No.”

“Please, young master—“

“I have a name!” Tetsuya snaps then, his anger curling at the out of his stomach. 

Hesitation and fear flickers in the maids’ eyes. 

“Young master, we cannot possibly use your noble name. We don’t have the right to do so. We are but lowly vampires,” the maid with the long black hair says and they all bow down to him. 

“If you truly respect me, then let me go! I am being kept here against my will! I do not belong here! Let me go!” Tetsuya shouts at them, his hands balled into fists, frustration evident on his face. 

The maids don’t raise their head and keeps on looking down at the floor. 

“Forgive us, young master. We cannot.”

“Why?”

“Forgive us, young master.”

At the repeat of words, Tetsuya loses strength and loses his anger. He feels drained and tired and he knows that this was useless. They weren’t going to answer him and they weren’t going to help him. 

He was all alone.

So he submits to their wishes. He lets himself be bathed and be clothed and be prepared to meet the man who had killed Seijuurou’s mother. 

One of the maids and he butler leads him to a room. The room is brightly lit and the smell of coffee permeates the air. 

The man sits behind the desk, leaned back in his chair and his black eyes watching Tetsuya’s every move.

He is dangerous and he is powerful. 

And he can kill Tetsuya in the blink of an eye if he wants to. Or he can make it slow and painful like how he’d done it to Seijuurou’s mother. 

“Hello, little fox. We meet again,” the man greets, his voice dark and heavy with power. 

Tetsuya doesn’t say anything and keeps on staring. 

The butler clicks his tongue at Tetsuya’s rude behavior but the man merely raises his hand and dismisses the butler with an easy wave. 

“So, little fox, how have you been? It’s been more than a week now. How are your injuries? Have they all healed up now? What about your room? Do you like it, little fox? I had a decorator called in and had it decorate it for you. Tell me if something is not to your liking and I will have that decorator beheaded and we’ll redecorate your room, little fox.”

The man continues on talking, asking things ad if he genuinely cared about Tetsuya as if he really cared about Tetsuya’s wellbeing. As if he wasn’t the one who had killed Seijuurou’s mother, as if he wasn’t the one who had destroyed Tetsuya’s new home. 

“I have a name,” Tetsuya spits out, interrupting the man’s monologue, “I am Kuroko Tetsuya.”

The man stops talking and there’s a small grin on his lips. It sends fear racing up Tetsuya’s spine but he doesn’t let it rule him, doesn’t let himself look away and show weakness. 

“Oh yes, Kuroko Tetsuya. The last living descendant of the royal and pure blood of the Kuroko’s. One of the few living purebloods and betrothed to Akashi Seijuurou, the sole heir of the Akashi bloodline. Kuroko Tetsuya, my little fox.” 

“I’m not your fox! I don’t belong to you! You don’t own me!” Tetsuya shouts, anger and disgust swirling in his gut at the man’s casual claim on him. 

The man chuckles then, dark and sinister. 

“Oh but I do. You’re mine. The moment that you’re parents failed to protect you, the moment that they had died to my hands, you became mine. You and your blood are mine.” 

“You…you were the one who…” Tetsuya shakes, tears gathering at the corner of his eyes. 

“The one who killed your parents? Yes, it was me. On that day two years ago when I had come to take you, they stood in my way, they were arrogant. Believing that they would be able to stop me. What a joke. Not even your grandmother could, that old hag. Though I have to admit that I had been foolish back then, not even thinking of the possibility that they would hide you, that they would send you away to the Akashi estate before I could arrive. That was a mistake on my part,” the man sighs and shakes his head then, a wry smile on his face as if he’s talking of something slightly funny and not about the murder of Tetsuya’s family. 

Tetsuya could do nothing but stand there, his head feeling as if it’s filling up with cold air. Hot volatile anger coils in his gut and it roots him in place, his breath speeding up. 

He had known that his family had died. The moment that he had been sent away to live with Seijuurou’s family, he knew that something bad was going to happen. And when a week had passed and Seijuurou’s parents were both wearing grim expressions and couldn’t meet his gaze when he had asked about his parents, he knew that they had died. He just knew that they did. He just never had the chance to learn how and why and Seijuurou had always refused to tell him anything. In his mind he had always imagined that they died in some kind of fight, some kind of war that was unavoidable and sometimes he would imagine that they were alive, that they were just somewhere out there and they just couldn’t live together with Tetsuya for the time being. Still, he knew that they were dead. It just hasn’t sunk in but now that the murderer of his own family had presented himself, he finds himself unable to say anything with how much it actually hurts. 

And once again, he finds himself being swallowed by fear. Here was the man who had killed his family and had murdered Seijuurou’s mother. And Tetsuya was utterly powerless, he couldn’t even move from how scared he was. 

His mind drowning in fear desperately grasps for anything to hold on to and then he remembers Seijuurou. 

Seijuurou must be alive. He has to be. He had always been strong. He was stronger than anyone that Tetsuya has met in his life. He has to be out there somewhere and he’ll come and save Tetsuya. He will because he promised that he’ll protect Tetsuya and Tetsuya believes in him. Tetsuya just has to survive and live and Seijuurou will find him and take him away from here. He will. 

Suddenly, the man laughs and in a second he is standing in front of Tetsuya, a cruel and mocking smile on his face. 

“Oh, my sweet little fox. Your little prince will not come for you. He never will. He is weak and he doesn’t have the power to take you from me,” he says in a mocking voice, his eyes glowing in and eerie purple. “He will never know where you are. He will never find you. And you’re mine.”

The man caresses Tetsuya’s cheek, a cruel smile that promised suffering on his lips and Tetsuya smacks his hand away, his body shaking with fear and disgust. 

“I don’t belong to you and you’re wrong! Seijuurou will find me! And he’ll take me away from here and he’ll save me! And he’ll kill you! He will kill you!” Tetsuya shouts at him, his voice trembling but he keeps on because if he doesn’t, if he doesn’t shout his words, he might forget to believe in them and he doesn’t want that to happen. 

Suddenly there’s a hand wrapped around his neck and he’s being lifted till he’s facing glowing purple eyes. 

“Really? That brat is going to save you? Well if he does, then let’s see if he can stop me right now.” 

And then there are fangs biting into the juncture of his neck and he is in pain. He screams and he struggles and he feels his blood sliding down his neck to his chest and he raises his fists and strikes down the man’s head but the fangs doesn’t budge and the pain intensifies. 

He screams again and then there is nothing. 

Tetsuya wakes up and he is in darkness. He looks around and sees a sliver of bright light streaming through between the thick curtains. 

It’s daylight outside. 

And he is confused.

He stares blankly at the light on the floor for a few minutes, trying to understand and to remember what happened when he finally registers the pain in his neck and the fear and disgust comes rushing in. 

His chest burns bright with anger and he screams and screams and screams. He curls into a ball, tries desperately to make his self small until he disappears but he doesn’t. He is still there, still painfully there. He screams again and clutches his head, pulls his hair but the pain does nothing but reminds him more that this is reality so he pulls and pulls and pulls till he’s clutching handfuls of bright baby blue hair and there’s no voice left in his throat. 

He lays back down on the bed, his limbs powerless, his voice gone and his eyes wet with tears. He stares at the canopy of the bed, thinking of Seijuurou. 

The man had not said that he had killed Seijuurou and Tetsuya knows that he’s alive. Seijuurou was out there somewhere. The man said that Seijuurou was weak but he’s wrong Seijuurou was strong and he will continue to grow stronger. He will become the strongest vampire. Tetsuya knows this. He knows, he knows, he knows. He knows because Seijuurou is his fate done. So he knows that Seijuurou will defeat that man and come save Tetsuya and take him away from all of this. He’ll come and save Tetsuya and avenge his parents and avenge Tetsuya’s parents—

And Tetsuya curls on his side as pain assaults him again at the reminder of his family. 

He remembers them, their faces bright and vivid in his mind. His strong willed mother and his gentle father. The two of them holding his hand and telling him stories of the outside world, telling him of he wonders and the dangers that lies outside. His grandmother. His brave and strong grandmother who would pat his head and bake him sweets. He loved them. He loved them so much and they had protected him. 

He remembers the night that his parents had sent him away. They had smiled at him but Tetsuya could see that there was something going on, something big enough that even the smile on his grandmother’s face was strained. He didn’t want to go, didn’t want to leave but then his mother had hugged him so, so tight that he almost couldn’t breathe, his father had kissed his forehead and his grandmother kissed his hand as they told him that they need him to go to Seijuurou’s house, that they love him and that they want him to be safe. So he had obeyed even when he didn’t want to. 

And so he was sent away on a car, wrapped in heavy blankets and the warmth of his family still lingering on his skin. 

He loved them so, so dearly and they had died protecting him because they loved him too. 

Tetsuya feels something breaking in his mind, akin to the sound when he had once dropped a glass in the past. He feels a mounting pressure at the back of his head, as if his brain was being pushed to the front of his skull and his vision darkens. His chest squeezes and squeezes and squeezes until he’s gasping for air. 

He passes out, his last thoughts a cry for salvation. 

_’Seijuurou…please….please…’_

It is night the next time he wakes up. 

He is still alone, still a prisoner and there is no salvation. In the silence of his prison, he realizes with a horror that he is starting to believe that Seijuurou may not ever come to save him. 

The thought terrifies him and he struggles to get out from the blankets, the fabric turning heavy and suffocating him, as if threatening to keep him confined for an eternity. In his frantic struggle he falls to the floor headfirst, the pain almost a slap to his senses. 

There was no way that Seijuurou would abandon him. It was such an absurd idea and Tetsuya feels shame burn across his chest for letting himself think that and believing the man even for a second. 

It is when he’s thinking that that he notices that instead of the thick red carpet, the floor is covered with a black shadowy substance. 

He is up on his feet fast and is on full alert when he realizes that the shadowy substance is moving. He jumps away from where he is standing but the whole floor of the room and some parts of the walls are covered by the shadows. He is starting to think that it was some kind of attack on him, the man finally deciding to kill him since he finally had a taste for his blood but then he sees the shadow wrap around his leg, oddly comforting and familiar and a memory from a long time ago surfaces from the well of his memories. 

He remembers a time from a long time ago when he was younger, bathed in darkness and the shadows his to command. His grandmother telling him of the importance of keeping his powers in check and teaching him how to control the shadows and bend it to his will. 

As the shadows converges back to him, seemingly soothed but his stabilizing emotions, Tetsuya realizes that he is not powerless. He is weak, yes, but he is not powerless. And he can get stronger. He knows he can. So he makes up his mind right then and there to get stronger, makes up his mind that he won’t just sit in his prison and wait for Seijuurou to save him. 

He will struggle and he will resist until he finds a chance to escape. And once he’s outside he’ll find Seijuurou. 

It is either that or he accepts his fate and wait for death and he will never ever accept death without fighting back. If the man wants to kill him well, Tetsuya will put up a fight no matter how insignificant his resistance may be. He vows to not make it easy for that murderous bastard. 

Tetsuya gathers the bright fire of rebellion in his heart and swears to himself to keep it secret until the day comes where he can find a chance to escape. 

Before he goes back to sleep, he notices a slight, almost invisible crack at the very corner of the glass of the window of his room. Wisps of shadows clings to the edges of the crack, as if it wants to pry open the glass. Tetsuya keeps this in mind as he pulls slightly on the curtains, covering the crack. 

He closes his eyes and he dreams of blood and stained glass windows of a chapel. 

A month or so passes by before something significant happens. He is left mostly alone during that time. The maids come from time to time to bring him food and take care of him but most of the time he is left alone to his own devices. He uses this time to practice his powers, works the crack slowly, chipping against it bit by bit. They do not know and they do not notice. Tetsuya prefers it this way. He would also really prefer it if they just completely forget his existence and leave him alone. 

Of course that doesn’t happen. 

The maids appear again one day, once again a variety of clothes in their hands while one of the maids carries bath essentials. There is apprehension on their face and Tetsuya almost laughs, a mean and sharp streak making its way into his heart. 

He goes without a fight, finally coming into terms with the fact that making the maids suffer by behaving like a brat does nothing but create trouble for the maid and they are nothing more than insignificant decorative pieces in his prison. They don’t even have the power to go against him, they can only beg and lower their heads so he figures that he might as well cooperate and make their jobs easier. 

After being bathed they lay out the clothes on the bed before him, giving him the option to choose which one to wear. There are different colored tuxedos before him, all of his size but he couldn’t be bothered to choose. There was most likely a party or something of the sort happening and he will be showed around like a latest acquisition. Just the thought of it makes him angry. 

At the lack of response the maids sigh before picking up a deep blue one, the bow a bright red and it reminds Tetsuya of Seijuurou’s hair. He thumbs the bow as the maids lead him outside of his prison to an empty room. The maids leave a second later but before he could even think of escaping the man shows up, in his own tuxedo and a smirk on his face. 

“Hello, little fox. That tuxedo suits you.”

Tetsuya doesn’t respond. 

“Anyway, let’s go. The party cannot start without us after all. You best behave little fox,” the man says, ‘or else’ left unsaid but still felt by Tetsuya. 

And all of a sudden, the man picks him up in one swift motion, carrying Tetsuya in his arms like a child and Tetsuya is frozen, unsure and on edge with being so near to the man who has kept him prisoner. 

“Behave,” the man says as Tetsuya feels a hand on his back, steadying him and he is left with no choice but to do so, the warning in the man’s voice rendering his mind frozen in fear. 

The man starts walking and Tetsuya almost doesn’t notice his surroundings with how high strung he was until he notices a form of a man bowing low on the corner of his eyes. 

He looks around and there are inside a very large room filled with people bowing lowly at them. Everyone is dressed in tuxedos and fancy dresses and his stomach churns as he realizes that yes, he will be shown around as if he’s the man’s possession. 

He feels disgust at the back of his throat. 

The man stops at the front of the room, before everyone else and puts him back to the ground and turns him to face the crowd. Everyone raises their head and looks at him with interest and Tetsuya feels disappointment when he doesn’t see recognition in anyone’s eyes. He had hoped that someone might know who he is and may be able to help him or at least tell him what has happened on the outside since his abduction but there is nothing in their eyes but curiosity, no ounce of recognition to be seen at all. 

He feels just a little bit of hope disappear from his heart. 

In a trance like state as if he’s underwater, he listens blankly as the man introduces him as Eleven and announces to everyone in the room that he will be the man’s protégé and that he will be under the man’s protection. There is a wave of applause and choruses of congratulations and Tetsuya cannot feel anything as everyone calls him Eleven. He feels like he’s losing himself, like his identity is being taken away from him. It hurts and he tries his best not to show it on his face. 

The man cups the side of his neck, where he had bitten Tetsuya before and Tetsuya jumps slightly, hating himself for his reaction when he sees the amusement in the man’s eyes. And then suddenly there was a sharp stabbing pain on his neck and his eyes water but he doesn’t pull away, doesn’t want to show his back to the enemy. 

The man takes away his hand a few second later, leaving a tender and raw feeling on his neck. As the man turns back to the crowd there is a murmur of amazement and Tetsuya sees his reflection on a mirror. There is a mark on the side of his neck that wasn’t there before. There is a black dragon coiled on his skin, branding him for everyone to see. 

“This is my mark and the proof that Eleven is my protégé.” 

The room is filled with thunderous applause and 

Tetsuya feels as if he is suffocating. 

After the party Tetsuya finds himself in the coffee scented room, the man standing in front of him with a pleased look in his face. 

Tetsuya feels like vomiting. 

The man babbles on, talking about how Tetsuya would need to start training soon and other things despite the fact that Tetsuya doesn’t answer. He keeps on talking, as if he’s only talking about the weather. 

Tetsuya’s brows furrow and he clenches his fist as he resists the urge to scratch his neck. He will not give him the satisfaction of seeing his discomfort. 

The man stops talking suddenly and meets Tetsuya’s eyes, a mocking grin on his lips. 

“He won’t come, you know? He won’t find you, that little prince of yours.”

Tetsuya doesn’t respond. 

“Would you like to know why?” the man’s finger lightly traces the burn mark on his left jaw and Tetsuya jumps away, his heart beating frantically. “It’s because of that. On that night, your prince had unleashed his power and in his desperation to save you, had hit you instead. He had seen you burn before his eyes by his own power. He thinks that he has killed you with his own hands, that pitiful brat.” 

The man laughs, his eyes growing a bright purple.

“No one will ever come for you, little fox,” the man says as he pats Tetsuya’s head.

Tetsuya pulls back and bites his hand. 

Tetsuya is curled on the corner of the room, his stomach in knots as he scratches on the mark on his neck. 

He keeps on scratching and scratching until his neck feels raw but Tetsuya can’t stop. It feels disgusting on his skin and the need to get the mark off is great enough that he doesn’t notice the pain. His cheeks stung where the man had struck him after Tetsuya bit him and Tetsuya was sure that it was starting to swell but Tetsuya didn’t care. What greatly weighed his mind currently was the mark on his neck. 

There’s a swirling, volatile mixture of fury and shame in the pit of his stomach. He didn’t belong to anyone but himself. His grandmother had firmly told Tetsuya this when he was younger, reminding him that he belonged to himself and himself alone and that even if he met his fated one later on, he was not obliged to pledge his life, that he was only to do it if he really wanted to. Which was what exactly he had done for Seijuurou. He had pledged his life for Seijuurou out of his own wishes, his own volition. It was his own choice and not like this. Not this revolting and forceful ownership. He feels shame burn deep in his skin and he feels violated, resenting his own self for being powerless in stopping the man even if he knows and understands completely that there was nothing he could do. 

Tetsuya growls in anger as he closes his eyes against the burning shame and he continues on scratching and scratching and scratching, 

When Tetsuya finally passes out from exhaustions, his fingers are raw from scratching and his neck is bleeding. But he is satisfied because with that the mark would surely be gone. 

Tearing flesh from his neck is a small price to pay for that. 

He is taken out of his room a week later. 

He reckons that that it would’ve been sooner if it wasn’t for the wound on his neck. The next night after the party, the usual maids had come in only to scream in horror as they saw the state he was in. Two of the maids had ran out of the room presumably to get help, while the other three ran towards him who was still lying on the floor. They seemed to be in panic and their eyes held fear. 

Tetsuya knew that in the grand scheme of things the maids were really nothing but just decorations, that they didn’t have any say or any responsibility to his current situation but seeing them in obvious distress gave him pleasure. It felt as if he was getting some kind of revenge on that man. He could barely hold back his grin of delight. 

The maid with the long black hair had carried him to the bathroom. When they had taken off his clothes, he had seen that it was thoroughly dyed in maroon colored blood. They had bandaged his neck after the bath and when he was carried back to his room, there were two pitches of blood waiting for him. They left shortly after that, leaving him to his own thoughts.

They hadn’t come to bother him anymore except for when they would come to bring him food until a week later. 

They had dressed him in clothes that are light and easy to move in. The usual five maids escort him with the butler and he is led downstairs. They kept on walking for a long time until they stepped in front of a set of heavy double doors. Two of the maids steps in and opens the door, revealing the outdoors. 

Tetsuya’s heart races, his chest filling with delight. He hasn’t seen the outside world for what felt like years and he thinks that this was his chance. That he could use this chance to escape. But his hope diminishes quickly when he sees the high walls and the soldiers stationed on top of the walls. He wasn’t escaping out easily, especially not today. 

A man with a scar running down from his forehead to his right cheek is introduced to Tetsuya. He is mostly silent and introduces himself in few words, his voice clipped but there was a hint of compassion in his eyes, something that Tetsuya hasn’t seen in this prison before. 

The silent man says that he doesn’t have a name. That he was simply a soldier and nothing else. Tetsuya decides to call him as Soldier. 

The butler does most of the talking, explaining to Tetsuya that he will be learning how to fight and how to protect himself from the silent man in front of him. The butler explains that as he is the master’s protégé, he is expected to learn combat and be proficient in them. 

Tetsuya thinks that this was a foolish move, that they were providing him with a means to fight but he doesn’t say anything. Clearly they were underestimating him, thinking that he wouldn’t fight back one day. 

The lesson starts and they do so in silence, only breaking that when his teacher says something to correct him or the clashing of their swords. Tetsuya quiets his mind as he continues on swinging his sword, the dark night being witness on his efforts. 

Their class stops later on, the sky slowly turning bright, indicating that it is almost morning. 

The maids escorts him back to his room, they had stayed the whole time, observing from a distance. They do a quick work of changing his clothes and once again, he is left alone. 

He stands in front of the mirror and frowns as his eyes lands on the bandages around his neck. He tugs on the bandages and his frown turns sour when he remembers what happened earlier. The butler had introduced him to Soldier as ‘Master Eleven.’ He had protested then and said that his name was Kuroko Tetsuya but the butler had paid him no mind and the soldier had called him Master Eleven. 

“My name isn’t Eleven,” Tetsuya growls and yanks the bandages off his neck. He feels surprise that quickly changes into anger as he sees the black dragon on his neck, pitch black against his pale skin and clearly there as if he hadn’t clawed it off a week before. 

The whole room is instantly plunged into darkness, shadows crawling on the walls and covering the window, reacting to his emotions. At that, Tetsuya takes a few shaking breaths, struggling to get his emotions under control. He was slowly getting better at controlling his power, the slightly deeper crack on the glass of the window a proof of that, but he still has trouble controlling it when he gets upset or any other intense emotions. 

He needs to get better. 

He _knows_ that he needs to get better. 

He doesn’t like being called Eleven, being called by a name that isn’t his but he has no choice but to tolerate it. He has to live with it until he finds a way to escape. 

He practices more on controlling his shadows and works on the window for a few hours before he goes to sleep. 

That day he dreams again of stained glass windows of a chapel. 

He is in the middle of his lessons when the realization hits him. 

It’s been bothering him for weeks, the feeling that something was wrong with his lessons. He’s been thinking about it, almost obsessively but he just couldn’t quiet put his finger on it. But now he finally has it. 

His lessons, the swordsmanship and other types of fighting that his instructor was teaching him were all the basic things and never seemed to advance past that. It’s been a few months since his lessons has started and so far he hasn’t learned anything that could actually help him defend himself. 

That realization shocks him so much that he stops swinging for a few seconds, his mind racing as he thinks up of possibilities and solutions to his current predicament. 

It is then that Soldier calls to him. 

“Master Eleven?”

He turns to him quickly, a demand and words of anger at the ready on his tongue when he sees the expression on Soldier’s face. His face is mostly blank as it usually is but he sees the hesitation in his eyes and something else in there, something that seems to say that he is begging for forgiveness. It sends him to confusion. 

He was about to open his mouth, about to ask what was the meaning to all of this when a figure on top of the wall catches his eyes. 

He freezes up. 

It was the man. He was standing on top of the wall, seemingly in conversation with one of the soldiers stationed there but his eyes were on Tetsuya. He was watching him, a sly smirk on his face. 

Tetsuya’s grip on his sword tightens. 

He so dearly wishes to be able to plunge the sword in that bastard’s chest straight to his heart. 

“Mater Eleven?”

He turns back to Soldier and apologizes for stopping. Soldier says something else but he’s not paying attention. He is more occupied with thinking of a solution for his current problem. 

He continues on swinging his swords, his skin prickling under the bastard’s stare. 

He sees a solution later on after his lessons. They were on their way back, Soldier leading the way and he sees the maids patiently waiting by the door. A few months ago they had changed locations, still in the courtyard surrounded by the high walls and still in sight of the castle but farther away, somewhere with a wide open space, fit for their lessons as Soldier had said. 

On their way back to the castle, they’d pass a group of soldiers who are training, their moves far more experienced and refined than him. He’d figure before that he’d learn to move like that eventually but of course it’s obvious now that he won’t. Not as long as they have a say in this. 

He slows his walking pace a bit, committing their movements to memory. He doesn’t know if this will work, if he’d be able to do it at all but this was the only thing that he could think of. He surely wouldn’t be able to do it as good as those soldiers but he’ll try to get as close as possible. 

It was the only choice. 

Later, much later, when the sun was already high up in the sky, Tetsuya imitates the moves he’s seen the soldiers doing earlier. He’s standing in front of the mirror. Trying to match the movement of his body from memory, the lamp in his hands as substitute for a sword. 

He keeps at it for a few hours and another hour practicing his shadows. He’s getting a bit better at controlling it now. That consoles him a little bit. 

When he falls asleep, he dreams of stained glass windows again. 

A year passes by, Tetsuya continuing with his frankly pointless lessons during the night and practicing the moves that he sees the soldiers doing when he’s alone in his room during the day. He works on his power as well, becoming more and more proficient in his control over the shadows. 

He doesn’t see the man often, only when he is summoned to meet him in his office where the man rambles on and asks about how he’s doing and how his lessons are progressing. Tetsuya never responds but that doesn’t deter the man, he just keeps on rambling on, not minding Tetsuya’s silence. 

Aside from the meetings with the man, nothing much happens. When it is not time for his lessons, he’s locked inside his tower where he secretly trains himself. The maids stay the same, the butler stays the same, Soldier stays the same and Tetsuya keeps to himself. He doesn’t attempt to try to talk to or get on good terms with anyone. 

And then one day someone new appears. 

A child shows up, about the same age as he is. Later on, Tetsuya learns his name.

Ogiwara Shigehiro. 

He has bright chestnut colored hair; he wears a black wristband on his left wrist and a cheerful smile on his lips. The smile throws Tetsuya off for a bit, he is confused. It takes him a few hours to understand why. 

Later on, he realizes that it’s been quite a while since he last saw a smile so cheerful that didn’t seem to imply malicious intent. It was a friendly smile, something that was supposed to be nonexistent in this place.

Ogiwara Shigehiro is apparently a helper of sorts to Soldier. He carries their swords and prepares towels and water for them. He carries and prepares the equipments they need with a smile ever present on his lips. 

Tetsuya doesn’t introduce himself. It’s pointless, he thinks. He’ll still be called as Eleven anyway. 

Inside this prison, Kuroko Tetsuya doesn’t exist. 

“Kuroko-sama?”

In the back of his mind, Tetsuya registers the fact that Ogiwara Shigehiro had said something but he doesn’t recognize or understands the word at all. He only assumed that Ogiwara was making a sound, perhaps talking to Soldier. He doesn’t understand at all until Ogiwara speaks again. 

“Kuroko-sama?”

Tetsuya had been sitting at a bench, a glass of water in his hand. They were taking a break and Tetsuya was taking this time to think, making a record in his mind on how far he has improved in his control over the shadows. So far he has been able to meld with the shadows, although only for a few seconds at most. It was during this time when he hears Ogiwara speak again, his voice soft and hesitant but sounding closer than before. In some part of his mind he thinks that this was unusual. No one talked to him in this place unless necessary. 

And then he realizes what Ogiwara had said. 

He turns to Ogiwara in a flash, his eyes widening in shock and surprise. He was shocked that he had not recognized his own name, had not even registered it. That realization left a bitter pang in his heart. And he had been surprised that someone in this place knows his name and was brave enough to use it. He had long ago determined that the man had ordered everyone in the castle to call him Eleven, to never use his true name and based on the maids’ reactions, there was most likely a severe punishment waiting for them if they went against his words and if Tetsuya were to base it on the fear in the maids’ eyes, the punishment was most likely execution. 

“Kuroko-sama…?” Ogiwara asks again, his voice timid and almost vanishing in the wind. 

Tetsuya grows suspicious quickly, his eyes narrowing. This could be a trap designed by that man. Something to mess with him. Seijuurou had told him a long time ago about a different kind of torture. One that used a person’s emotional feelings instead of hurting them physically. 

“What do you want?” he snarls. 

Ogiwara shrinks back. His complexion paling a bit but he stays, a silent sort of courage in his eyes. 

“You are Kuroko Tetsuya-sama, right?”

Tetsuya nods after a few minutes, his own name sounding unfamiliar in his ears. 

“So it really is you,” Ogiwara says, a budding happiness in his voice. 

“…What do you want?”

At his words, Ogiwara’s face falls. 

“So, Kuroko-sama doesn’t remember me? Well, it is understandable. It’s been years since you last saw me,” Ogiwara looks down for a few seconds, seemingly reminiscing about something before he looks back to Tetsuya. “Kuroko-sama, I am Ogiwara Shigehiro. My family has served your royal bloodline since the beginning of time. My grandparents served your grandparents and my parents have served your parents.”

Ogiwara Shigehiro stands up and kneels before him; hand on top of his heart and his head lowered. It is then that Tetsuya remembers an old memory. He remembers people kneeling before him and his family, their faces blurry but he remembers their bright chestnut hair and the next memory about a brightly smiling child, proudly showing a missing front teeth, their hair the same bright chestnut, almost orange, and he looks exactly just like the person who is currently kneeling before him. 

_”Nice to meet you, Kuroko-sama! My name is Ogiwara Shigehiro! Please, call me Shigehiro!”_

“And I have sworn my life to you, Kuroko-sama.” 

Tetsuya feels faint, the knowledge that there was someone in here who’s on his side almost too much for him. He had been used to being on enemy territory, to being surrounded all the time. He’s been on edge the whole time and now that an ally had shown up he feels like a puppet that had suddenly got its strings cut. He almost collapses in on himself. 

“…Shige-kun?” he asks in a small voice, almost nonexistent and watches as Ogiwara Shigehiro looks up, a bright, _bright_ smile on his lips. 

“Yes, Kuroko-sama!”

“On the night that Kuroko-sama was sent away, that man had attacked shortly later on. Everyone in my clan were there, intent on protecting your parents and grandmother,” Shigehiro’s eyes narrows at this, his hands curling into fists. “He had brought his own army. That wasn’t an issue, they couldn’t even put up a decent fight but he…he was strong. Everyone in my family was…killed in an instant. I had barely survived myself. He had ripped out my organs and left me barely breathing on the ground as he fought your parents and grandmother. I…forgive me, Kuroko-sama. I was unable to do anything but watch,” Shigehiro lowers his head again, bitterness in his voice. 

Tetsuya shakes his head, telling Shigehiro to raise his head up. 

“It’s okay, it wasn’t your fault. Instead, I…I’m sorry. Because of me your whole family—“

Shigehiro vehemently shakes his head. 

“Kuroko-sama, we have sworn our lives to you. My family died protecting you and your family and there is no greater honor than that,” he says, his voice firm and sure of it. 

Tetsuya doesn’t quite understand. He did not like the idea of dying like that, of leaving behind someone, leaving them all alone but he doesn’t say anything. This was their own way and Tetsuya couldn’t just go and say something rude just because he didn’t like something that they did. This was their beliefs and principles. 

“What happened to you after that?”

“I had spent a long time in a hospital and after that I had wandered around for a while. I could not go and find you, Kuroko-sama. Aside from your parents and grandmother, no one else knew where you were sent. I had also refused to know in order to reduce the risk of your location being revealed. When I heard news of the massacre of Akashi-sama’s family and of your apparent death, I started my search for you. As repulsive and disrespectful as this sound, there was no way that that man would let you die. You are too valuable to him and he is not that merciful.”  
At the mention of Seijuurou’s name, Tetsuya jolts. Here was someone who knew of what happened after that day and someone who would not withhold information from him. 

“Seijuurou! What happened to Seijuurou?! Is he alive?!”

“Yes, Akashi-sama is alive. He is alive but…”

“But?”

Shigehiro’s expression darkens. 

“I have not been able to see Akashi-sama personally but they said that he had…changed.” 

“W-What do you mean by changed?” Tetsuya feels a lump forming at the back of his throat. He had a bad feeling about this. 

“They say that there is a chance that Akashi-sama may have lost his mind. They said he kept on saying that he had killed you,” Shigehiro’s eyes lands on the burn marks on Tetsuya’s jaw. “They say that Akashi-sama has changed, has become cold and ruthless. They say that one of his eyes had changed to the color of madness.” 

“What…what does that even mean?”

Shigehiro shakes his head.

“Forgive me, Kuroko-sama. I don’t know the details myself. I’ve only heard the rumors.” 

Tetsuya dreams later on of an old memory. 

A memory of a chapel’s stained glass windows and of Seijuurou. 

_  
They had gone out exploring, him and Seijuurou._

_Their families had gone out on a vacation, somewhere far away by the countryside and he and Seijuurou had gone on exploring. They’d gone on with a promise that they won’t wander too far away although he was pretty sure that at least one of the Ogiwara’s were watching over them._

_They’d stumble upon an abandoned chapel, the surrounding place overgrown with weeds. They had gone in, forcing open the doors and saw the inside was mostly intact. There were pews lined on both sides and the place was mostly fine except for the dust that had settled thickly on the floor and on the pews. The stained glass windows were intact as well, changing the pale moonlight into something colorful and almost mysterious, leaving Tetsuya entranced._

_They stood in the middle of the room, holding each other’s hand._

_Suddenly, Seijuurou turns to him, his hair shifting with his movement, changing colors under the light from the stained glass windows and Tetsuya has the strong urge to run his fingers through his hair._

_“Tetsuya is my fated one,” Seijuurou declares suddenly, surprising Tetsuya._

_“Huh?”_

_At the look on Tetsuya’s face, Seijuurou smiles fondly at him and takes both of Tetsuya’s hands in his._

_“Tetsuya is my fated one,” he repeats, his voice clear and indisputable. He says it as a fact, something that he has known for a while and is very much pleased by the truth._

_There is no doubt in his voice and no shadows in his eyes._

_Tetsuya smiles back._

_“And Seijuurou is my fated one,” he says back to him and leans forward to touch their foreheads together._

_It feels good to say it out loud, to make it known to their surroundings even if the witnesses are only the dust and the abandoned chapel. Since the first time they met they’ve known about it, had recognized each other’s soul with just one glimpse. Their parents had known it as well and even if they did not like it they’ve agreed to not make the bond right then and there and listened to their parents to wait, to let their selves grow first before everything else. At least they’ll see each other a lot and that they’ll stay in contact._

_And that was enough._

_At least for now._

_But this was better. To be able to say it out loud, to say it to each other clearly. It is much, much better._

_He feels his magic flowing from his heart, reaching out and intertwining with Seijuurou’s. It is old magic, something that they can’t put into words, just something that they know instinctively._

_Their chest starts glowing, a mark of a clock appearing on their chest. Tetsuya feels happiness at this, his smile widening._

_It isn’t a bond. Not yet anyway. It’s a promise, a vow. And from now on, each time they touch each other’s skin, the mark would glow, reminding them of their promise._

_It isn’t a bond but it’s the closest thing that they could get for now while they are still kids. And one day, when they are older, they’ll have a real bond and they won’t be separated from each other anymore.  
_

Tetsuya wakes up, his heart heavy and his eyes wet with tears. 

He doesn’t go out and doesn’t do anything for that day and just lies on his bed, curled up in a ball. The maids don’t say anything and doesn’t force him to do anything. 

He spends most of the time in a flickering slumber, his whole body aching. 

They don’t talk much even after that, their movements always monitored and never giving a chance for the two of them to talk again but Shigehiro always smiles at Tetsuya. When he brings them their swords, when he brings water or even when Tetsuya just happens to look his way. He sees the way that Shigehiro jerks whenever he appears in his presence, a slight bend at his waist as if he’s fighting his impulse to bow down to Tetsuya so instead he smiles. Tetsuya would like to tell him that it was okay, that he didn’t need have to bow down to him or anything but he can’t find the right time to approach him, very much aware of the butler clicking his tongue and disdain in his face whenever Shigehiro smiles at him. There was also that look that Soldier gives him sometimes, as if he knows something. 

And Tetsuya worries. He worries for Shigehiro because he was damn sure that if they found out that Shigehiro was a servant of the Kuroko family, they would not hesitate to kill him. And Tetsuya is scared of that. He doesn’t want Shigehiro to die, doesn’t want to lose him. Inside this prison of his, Shigehiro was the only friendly face, the only one from a time that he can never go back to and his bright smiles makes Tetsuya’s bleak days brighter, it makes his chest feel less constricted and he is so, so bright that Tetsuya realizes that he’s lonely. He is so, so lonely. And even if they can’t talk to each other or even go near each other, just knowing that he is there and that Tetsuya isn’t alone is more than what he’s had for a long time. 

He doesn’t want to be lonely anymore. 

“Forgive me, Kuroko-sama. My strength had been greatly diminished and finding and escape route in this place is very difficult. Everything is under lock and key and that man keeps an eye over everything,” Shigehiro answers, his shoulders drawn in together as if he is blaming himself for what is currently happening. 

"Shige-kun, it’s okay. It’s not your fault,” he places a hand on Shigehiro’s shoulder, hoping to somehow comfort him. “But how did you get in here anyway?” Somehow I don’t think that they would’ve just let anyone come in, much less a child.”

Shame washes over Shigehiro’s face. 

“I was caught a few months before being brought here. I was running around with a group of people who were planning to cross the ocean. It happened to be near this castle so I joined them so I can investigate this place while we rested nearby. I had heard that this was one of that man’s castles but that no one really comes here so I thought I’d at least check this place out. We were resting in the forest nearby when we were attacked. All the adults were killed and the children were captured. They think that I’m one of the children of the adults in that group so I should be fine” 

“I see. What happened to the other kids?” 

“They should be around the castle somewhere. I see them from time to time. Some were placed as helpers in the kitchen and other places. I was chosen to be a helper for your instructor because I have experience with handling the sword apparently.”

A few moments of silence pass. Tetsuya thinks to a time when he saw a child younger than him wiping the marble floors. At that time he did not pay it any attention; he certainly found it weird but didn’t have time to wonder about it. Now it makes sense. 

“Kuroko-sama?”

“Yes?” Tetsuya turns to Shigehiro. There are flames burning in his eyes. 

“I’ll definitely find and escape route, Kuroko-sama! I’ll get you out of here! Please wait for this day!” There is determination in his voice and there is no shadow of doubt in his face, just the certainty that he will find an escape. Tetsuya can’t help but smile back in return. 

“Okay. I’ll wait for that day, Shige-kun.”

And just like everything that Tetsuya has learned in his short life, tragedy always happens when he least expects it. 

“Kuroko-sama!”

The urgently whispered words stop Tetsuya in his tracks. He’s currently in the middle of another pointless lesson and Soldier has just left, saying something about how he needed to get something so he’ll excuse himself for a bit. Shigehiro had not showed up himself and so Tetsuya had no one to talk to so he had instead opted to practice swinging his sword. 

He looks behind him and sees Shigehiro standing by the bench where they had first talked to each other. There is a subdued urgency in his eyes and Tetsuya’s curiosity is piqued. 

He looks around, sees no one and walks towards Shigehiro. 

“What is it?” 

“I’ve found a way out, Tetsuya-sama!” he says, his voice excited but still hushed. 

Tetsuya’s heart starts thundering in his chest. 

“How did you find it?” Tetsuya asks, moving closer, feeling excited for the first time in a while. 

“A few nights ago, I was helping out in the kitchen and then I overheard the cook and one of the guards talking. There is an old small gate hidden covered up in ivy in the south side of the wall. I just checked it and it’s really there, Kuroko-sama!” 

Tetsuya was about to express his joy, to say thank you to Shigehiro for finding the gate but suddenly he had a bad feeling. It was so sudden and so overwhelming that he feels himself trembling a little. There was no way that it was that easy. He trusts Shigehiro, he really does but something tells him that that man wouldn’t let something like this just happen. He wasn’t that easy. There was something wrong here, something bad. 

“Shige-kun.”

“Yes, Kuroko-sama?”

“ **’Kuroko-sama?’** ”

The cold steel like voice asks behind them and Tetsuya jumps, turning to look back and sees the butler standing there, a sneer in his lips and anger in his eyes. 

“The master has given young master Eleven a proper name. How dare you go against his orders and call him by any other name, you insolent brat,” the butler snarls, his eyes glowing a poisonous green. 

Tetsuya turns back to Shigehiro and pushes him away. 

“Shige-kun, run! Go!”

Shigehiro looks at him for a few seconds confused as to what’s happening and then he nods and turns to run away.

He runs as fast as he can and Tetsuya barely sees him as he does but he wasn’t fast enough. Tetsuya feels a gust of wind behind him and in an instant the butler is on top of Shigehiro, grabbing him by the neck and slamming his face into the ground. 

Tetsuya hears bones breaking and Shigehiro’s sharp cry of pain. He couldn’t move. 

The butler stands up, still holding Shigehiro by the neck and drags him towards the castle. His face is twisted in anger. 

“The master will deal with you, you maggot.”

Tetsuya sees the trail of blood, almost black under the light of the night and it snaps him out of his stupor. 

“Shige-kun! No! Let go of him!”

Before he could even take a step forward, a hand stops him. It’s Soldier. He looks sad and guilty and there is something akin to desperately asking for forgiveness in his eyes. 

Tetsuya feels resentment for Soldier burning inside him and he shoves his hand away. It doesn’t budge. The hand on his arm tightens. He keeps on struggling and struggling and struggling until the grip on his arm starts to hurt. He doesn’t stop. He keeps on struggling, calling Shigehiro’s name and watches as their figure gets farther and farther away. He screams and struggles again. 

He hears something break. 

A bright white pain blooms in his arm but he doesn’t care. None of those matter. Shigehiro was getting farther and farther away. 

“Shige-kun!” 

They disappear from his sight and he feels a warm liquid running down his arm. He feels his tears fall, too. 

But it doesn’t matter. 

None of it matters. 

It’s the last time he sees Ogiwara Shigehiro. 

He’s in his room again, alone. 

His arm is wrapped up in bandages. The maids had screamed when they saw him. Apparently he had broken his arm. He thinks he’d seen something white, like a bone. 

In some part of his mind, he is aware that it hurts. But it just doesn’t matter. What matters was Shigehiro and where he is right now and is he alive. 

The door doesn’t budge and the maids don’t come even when he calls for them. 

He passes out slumped against the door, the nails on his hand broken from him scratching at the wood. 

The door doesn’t open for four days.

He’s starving and the burning in his throat is almost unbearable. But he doesn’t care about that, he really doesn’t. As long as Shigehiro was alive he’d gladly swear to never drink blood ever again. Starvation is a small price for Shigehiro’s life. 

He keeps on scratching on the wood, quiet pleas of mercy whispered against the door but it doesn’t open. 

Until four days later. 

He feels the door opening, feels the vibration as the  
key is placed in the keyhole and the small vibrations as it turns. The door opens slowly, softly, as if not to disturb him.

The maid with the long black hair opens the door and she is alone. Her face is blank and there is nothing in her eyes but she walks slowly towards Tetsuya, not wanting to scare him. 

Tetsuya is slumped against the wall next to the door and he doesn’t get up. He doesn’t have the energy anymore. He watches as the maid approaches him slowly, not caring at all. She could kill him now and he won’t even put up a single fight. At this point in time he’d call it salvation. 

She kneels in front of him and he closes his eyes. He is tired. He is so, so tired. Suddenly, he is being lifted and moments later, he’s placed down on something soft. He opens his eyes and sees that she has placed him on the bed. 

They stare at each other like that for a bit. Him, laid on top of the bed, broken and weak and her, standing at the side of the bed, blank face and flat eyes. 

And then she reaches out for his hand and places something small and soft on his palm.

“I am so, so sorry,” she says as she turns to leave the room. 

He hears the click of the lock and he looks down on his open palm. 

It is Ogiwara Shigehiro’s black wristband. 

He doesn’t cry. There are no tears. He has none of those left anymore. 

He just stares at the wristband. 

He stares and stares and stares. 

And then he sees the blood on the corner of the wristband. It’s dried out and almost unnoticeable against the black fabric but it’s there and he sees it. 

He hears something crack then; he feels something shift in his mind, as if something had fallen out. He doesn’t really understand. 

He falls asleep. 

When he opens his eyes gain, there are five pitchers of blood and a glass placed on his bedside table. 

He finishes it all in under than ten minutes and then he’s left staring at the wristband again. 

Ogiwara Shigehiro was dead. 

He doesn’t understand. 

He should be crying, he should be mourning. But here are no tears and he only feels hollow inside. 

He sits there for a long time, trying to understand what has happened to him but he doesn’t come to an answer. 

And then he notices the shadows. They are wrapped around him, almost covering him entirely as if the shadows are trying to comfort him. He feels an echo of comfort, as if he’s watching through a window from another person’s perspective. 

One end of the shadows move towards the window. He follows it and watches as the shadows starts chipping away on the glass. 

It’s like a light bulb has gone off in his brain. 

That’s right. 

He was working on the window. 

It was a second plan of sorts.

In case that he doesn’t find an escape outside then he’d make an escape himself. 

That’s right. 

He’d do his classes and pretend through it while observing the other soldiers. During breaks he’d look for an escape, a temporary lapse in security, anything that can be used to his advantage. After the class, he’d practice the moves he’d seed the soldiers do, something for him so that he can protect himself when needed. 

That’s right. 

He has so many things to do. 

He needs to escape from here.

That’s right. 

He gathers the shadows and starts working on the window again. 

He needs to escape. 

The door opens again three days after that. Things continue on as if nothing happened. The maids come in and do their job and he resumes his lessons.

There is grief in Soldier’s eyes and before starting their pointless lesson he opens his mouth as if to say something but decides against it at the last moment. 

He doesn’t care. 

Before he might have felt sorry for Soldier, might have tried to console him even but now he just doesn’t care. 

The man calls for him again a few days later. Once again, he is dressed up and brought to his office. Once he enters the same thing happens again. 

The man talks up a storm, asking him about how he’s doing and talking about a lot of things as if he actually cares. 

In the past he would have been terrified, barely holding himself from shaking in fear but now he barely feels anything. There are still echoes of fear in his mind, a faint warning of caution but other than that there’s nothing. 

He is sent back to his room shortly after.

He had not spoken one word and the man said nothing about it. 

He stands in front of the mirror in his room. 

He’s staring at himself. 

Something is wrong, he feels it. Something is not right. He doesn’t really understand but something is very wrong with him. He feels as if he’s underwater, he feels numb. The sounds around him are muffled and it feels as if there’s something loose inside his brain. 

He doesn’t understand. 

The burn marks on his jaw and neck catches his eyes and somehow it gives him comfort. Maybe because it’s a reminder of Seijuurou. 

He takes off his shirt and stares at his chest, wishing that the mark of the clock was visible so he could see something that he shared with Seijuurou. 

Oh.

Right. 

Seijuurou.

He needs to hurry up and get out of here so he can go to where Seijuurou is.

That’s right. 

He walks towards the window and starts chipping at it away. For a few seconds he sees his reflection on the glass. 

He barely recognizes himself. 

The maid with the long black hair crumples to the ground, barely breathing and blood pouring down from the bite wound on her neck. She grasps the tips of his fingers weakly, her mouth moves as if she’s trying to say something. 

He kneels down to her and leans closer so he could hear her last words. He feels nothing for her, no sympathy or disdain but she had given him Shigehiro’s wristband and her blood. He at least owes her this much. 

She gasps a few times, her grip on his hand weakening as the seconds pass by and he could feel her life leaving her. 

“Forgive me, Kuroko Tetsuya-sama,” there are tears falling down her eyes, “Please, escape out of here. Please, be free.”

She lets out one shuddering breath and she lays still. 

He closes her eyes and stands up. 

He feels alive. Feels like he’s truly breathing again for the first time in years. The shadows surround him, moves and breathes with him. 

It was time to get out of this prison.

“After twelve years you finally escape. Well done, Kuroko-sama,” Soldier says in gasping breath. 

He is slumped down against the side f the tree, his stomach torn open and his blood pooling around him. 

“No thanks to you.”

Soldier laughs, bitter and hollow.

“He is my master; I could not go against him.”

“Clearly.”

Soldier smiles and points deep into the forest. 

“That way is the ocean. Cross it and they won’t be able to pursue you anymore. With your power, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

He nods at Soldier.

"Hurry,” Soldier smiles again, there is blood staining his teeth. “Before he comes back.” 

He stumbles into and abandoned building and collapses on the floor. He doesn’t know where he is and he is so tired and wounded. He just ran and ran and ran and crossed the ocean as fast as he could. 

His leg is broken and the wounds on his abdomen are still bleeding when he falls asleep. He figures that the wounds will heal itself the next time he wakes up. 

He opens his eyes and finds his leg is still broken but the wounds on his abdomen had stopped bleeding. He closes his eyes again and just lies on the floor for a while. 

And then—

And then there are tears. 

The tears pour out from his eyes and slides down the side of his temples. The tears keep on coming but he doesn’t have the strength to stop it. 

Then he’s sobbing and crying out loud and he feels the vice like grip on his heart slowly loosening. With each sob he feels his chest expanding and he slowly starts to feel like a person again. He chokes on his tears but he doesn’t stop. He keeps on crying and crying and crying until his voice goes hoarse and he can barely see anything in front of him. 

After hours of crying, his tears finally run dry, finally feeling like a person again after twelve years. 

And then he starts laughing. 

It started as a tickle, an itchy impulse at the back of his throat and then he opens his mouth and he starts giggling. His whole body starts shaking and he’s giggling uncontrollably that turns into full blown laughter. He laughs and laughs and laughs and thinks that he sounds hysterical, almost insane and the thought sends him laughing even harder until he’s clutching his stomach and tears gathers in his eyes. 

“I’m free…I’m finally free…”

He doesn’t recognize his own voice. 

After the laughter has subsided, he stands up and looks around the place. The smell of dry wood and old dust assaults his nose as he notices the pews and the stained glass windows. He looks around in amazement and let’s out and amused laugh. 

It was the abandoned chapel where he and Seijuurou had made their promise. Somehow, in his mindless frantic running he had ended up here. He had come back.

He touches his chest, looking for a mark there that he knows that he can’t see. He wishes that Seijuurou was here as well. 

He smiles.

Well, he’ll have to go and find Seijuurou now and bring him back here. 

“Tetsuya…?”

His head snaps to look for the owner of the voice. It’s familiar and so dear to him. Something that he had fervently hoped to hear for years now. 

He looks around wildly, his heart threatening to burst out from his chest and his eyes lands on a familiar shade of red hair. 

It’s Akashi Seijuurou. 

It’s Akashi Seijuurou and he’s standing there by the open door, wide mismatched eyes of crimson red and amber yellow. The Akashi Seijuurou in front of him looks older than the Akashi Seijuurou in his memories; he looks less soft, more jaded, weary looking and with different colored eyes. 

“Tetsuya?”

But they way he calls his name, now with a low hoarse voice, is still the same. It is still the same way he calls his name when they were younger with a bright, higher pitched voice.

It’s his Seijuurou. 

He reaches out his hand wordlessly, unwilling to believe what his eyes were seeing. He had finally escaped his prison and now Seijuurou was in front of him. This couldn’t be. Life was never this nice. It’s a trap, a mirage, a lie, a fabrication of his mind. One of those possibilities. He knows that it is. He knows that when he reaches out his hand and touch him his hand will go through him because this was a lie and his mind is just turning against him. 

But his hand doesn’t go through and a hand meets his own, solid and real and their fingers interlaces with each other and the hand feels warm and alive and it is actually all real.  
Seijuurou is here in front of him. 

“Seijuurou?”

Both of their chests starts glowing and something falls into place in him. Something finally feels right after twelve years. 

Seijuurou leans into him until their foreheads are touching and he could barely see through his tears. 

Arms encircle him and Seijuurou kisses his tears away in between words. 

“Tetsuya. My Tetsuya.”

Now he finally feels like Kuroko Tetsuya again.

**Author's Note:**

> I edited and posted this with my phone so if there's any mistakes blame my phone thanks k bye
> 
> Wash your hands guys and stay at home!


End file.
